A WhatsApp channel called Lula’s Army grew from 50,000 to more than 10 million subscribers as Brazil’s president staged a historic comeback

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva staged a historic comeback, winning the runoff election by more than 3.5 percentage points—a margin exceeding 4 million votes—while his WhatsApp channel, “Lula’s Army,” expanded from 50,000 to over 10 million subscribers. The result underscores the growing role of direct digital messaging in Brazilian politics, as Lula’s campaign leveraged the platform to bypass traditional media and reach voters at scale. His victory also follows his success in erasing the fiscal deficit, a key economic marker that shaped the campaign’s narrative. The scale of the WhatsApp channel’s growth highlights how political campaigns are increasingly using encrypted messaging apps to mobilize supporters and control their own messaging. Watch for how Lula’s administration translates that digital reach into governing momentum and whether rivals build comparable direct-to-voter channels ahead of the next election cycle.